Central A/C or not??

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Central A/C or not??

Alex Smith
Investor · South Jersey · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 73 votes

Good Morning BP! 

Just thought I'd stop in here to see what others would do or have done....

We recently purchased a 6 unit distressed property. The property is comprised of a triplex, duplex and single family home. 


We are currently working in the triplex and when we purchased the property, everything was a little odd. I believe at one point this triplex was a single family home, so it had 1 oil tank servicing the heater for all 3 units- yikes. We got rid of that and had 3 gas meters installed. We are getting new ductwork/heaters for all 3 units so now I'm wondering...should we take that one step further and do central a/c too?? 

We just installed all new windows in the building and it would be really nice not to have a bunch of a/c units hanging out of them in the warmer months. Yes, it's more costly up front, but I'm assuming in time it would pay off and obviously add value to the property. Thoughts? What would you do or what have you done?

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Scott M.
Real Estate Broker · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
5y

Sounds like you have a major renovation going on there, well done.  If the numbers work A/C is a great investment that does add value to properties both on the rental and sales side.  If this numbers don't work laying the groundwork now would be ideal as well.  A lot you can do to simply place the units in later if you can't do all 3 now.  

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  • Jody Sperling
    Omaha, NE · Member since 2020 · 612 posts · 666 votes
    5y

    Central air for sure. You'd be hard pressed to find a better value add after new windows.

    1Reply
  • Gail K.
    Augusta, GA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y

    Many seem to like going the mini-split route for situations such as these.

    0Reply
  • Scott Mac
    Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    5y

    Hi Alex,

    Can you get enough electric on the site to run all of those central A/C units--or are you maxed.

    An electrician can answer that.

    Good Luck!

    1Reply
  • Scott M.
    Real Estate Broker · Rochester Hills, MI · Member since 2009 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    5y

    Sounds like you have a major renovation going on there, well done.  If the numbers work A/C is a great investment that does add value to properties both on the rental and sales side.  If this numbers don't work laying the groundwork now would be ideal as well.  A lot you can do to simply place the units in later if you can't do all 3 now.  

    2Reply
  • Alex Smith
    OP
    Investor · South Jersey · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 73 votes
    5y

    @Scott M

    @Scott M. that is a great idea (laying the ground work). I think we will try to get all 3 central a/c units in on the front end, but if we don't, at least they can be added in later with ease if we go the route you had mentioned. Thank you!

    0Reply
  • Alex Smith
    OP
    Investor · South Jersey · Member since 2015 · 109 posts · 73 votes
    5y

    @Scott Mac I think we can get enough electric, but yeah, I'm going to have to verify with an electrician. Good point!

    1Reply
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